


Love Makes Hunters of Us All

by heatherkiki



Series: Dedicating Every Day to Us [1]
Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Angela Rizzoli is the Gradmother Everyone Wishes They Had, Coming of Age, Domestic Bliss, Excelling at Motherhood, F/F, Frank Rizzoli Sr. is non-existent in this universe, Idiots in Love, Maura and Jane are Obliviously in Love, Protective Jane, References to Glee (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-02-07 08:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18616921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heatherkiki/pseuds/heatherkiki
Summary: It’s all very… domestic, to be honest, the lives they’ve built for themselves in like, three years. Jane knows people’ve been talking, but if she wants to raise her biological child she gave up for adoption eighteen-or-so odd years ago with the kid’s adopted mom and also coincidentally help raise said adopted mom’s twin children, then it’s her own goddamn business. Anyone who has anything to say can say it to her damn face.Never-mind the fact that she might have accidentally fallen in love with the insanely gorgeous mom of her child which—Jesus that sounds so goddamn weird, she swears she's not usually this weird—it's the Maura effect.Plus, this case is taking a lot outta her right now—she comes home every day exhausted, as so does Maur, she imagines. She really can’t believe this is her life right now.





	1. Good Ole Saturday

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies in advance to any Italian or French-speaking people; I neither speak nor learn either language, and got most of the translation from Google. Also, additional apologies to American people, since I'm not American (Brit), but I still tried to write the spelling and slang to be as authentic as possible, so might seem a bit awkward at times—though writing as Maura is much easier than writing Jane.
> 
> I wasn't happy with the previous version of this story (Dedicate Every Day to You), so I tried my hand at another attempt—hopefully it's an improvement.

 

> “It was just a normal day, a day like any other. But most of all it was a day in which everything was exactly the way it should be.”
> 
> — Nicholas Sparks, _The Choice_
> 
>  

* * *

 

There were times Maura could not believe her reality—the reality of immeasurable happiness brought by her life. A younger Maura would perhaps not have believed such happiness to be attainable, and yet her children proved her wrong every single day. And Jane, of course, whom she had known— _Goodness_ had it only been three years? Three years to know this remarkable woman who claimed to be Sofia’s biological mother (“I’m Sofia’s birth mom,” she had said, leaving Maura speechless at her own door) almost as well as she knew herself. Three years to call her a best friend, and extend trust and respect and friendship and love.

 

So, yes, there were times Maura could not believe the utter perfectness of her reality.

 

This Saturday morning was one of those times. Her adopted daughter, Sofia Isles, had run down the stairs (leading to a gentle chastisement from her mother) and flung herself onto their soft couch, reaching for the television remote. Sofia's hair was still dripping from the shower her mother required her to take every morning, making her untameable curls the exact same shade as her birth mother, who should be arriving with the groceries presently.

 

“What, may I ask, are you doing?” Maura asked, slowly lowering herself onto the armchair by the sofa, mindful of the freshly-brewed coffee she held in a mug in her right hand.

 

The thirteen-year-old shifted to face her while simultaneously flipping through the television channels. “Hi Maman. I’m trying to find the  _FOX_  channel so that I can watch the morning rerun of last night's episode.” At Maura’s raised brow, she raised her hands by her shoulders to defend herself (a very Jane-like mannerism), “I already took a shower and I got all my homework done, I swear.”

 

“Hmm,” was all Maura said in reply.

 

“So yeah?” Sofia gave her most charming grin (another Rizzoli trait, no doubt—Maura had been on the receiving end far too many times), which was very effective towards her mother, though she would never admit it.

 

“Yes, I suppose you can,” Sofia leaped for joy, “as long as you turn it off when Daniel and Olivia wake up. We won’t have breakfast whi—”

 

“While the television is on, I know Maman.” Leaning over the gap, she gave Maura a tight embrace, to which Maura fully returned, and switched to  _FOX_ , catching the narrator—Maura could never really tell who it was, not that she really cared for it—as he completed up his trademark ‘and that’s what you missed on _Glee_ ’ line.

 

She did not regret the decision to buy her the _Glee: Season One_ DVD three weeks ago, per se—it had mostly been Jane’s idea anyway—but she did not enjoy the early morning viewings, as well as off-tune renditions of Journey’s  _Don’t Stop Believin’_  in the shower, or car, or anywhere. Admittedly, Sofia did not have the best voice. Daniel had always been the better singer between the three children

 

Jane, true to her nature, had teased Sofia about it for days—her infatuation with the soundtrack—but last week Maura had caught her humming  _Sweet Caroline_  to herself. The other woman had seen her, with her exceptional detective skills (and also the fact that she had been giggling rather loudly), and had later bothered Maura while she was cooking, singing in her ear while spinning her around until the shorter woman caved and joined her in dancing.

 

“Maman?” Sofia called from the couch, her nose sniffing the air. “Are you making—” she started to say, only to be interrupted by the front door slamming open.

 

Jane stomped in with a large bag of groceries obscuring her vision, shouting, “Honey, I’m home!” like a mad man, wearing the cheekiest grin Maura had ever seen on anyone other than her children. She rolled her eyes, though was powerless to resist a grin in return.

 

“Ma!”

 

“Heya, kiddo.” Jane said, putting the groceries safely onto the kitchen counter before hugging her carbon copy to death. Maura checked inside the bag; Jane had bought the usual eggs (thank goodness, they were running low), milk, and several other household items. As well as a small Red Sox keychain—interesting. Most likely for Olivia, Maura thought, who was as attached to Baseball as Sofia was to  _Glee_. “What’s up? Whatcha watching?” 

 

“Ma,” Sofia whined, struggling out of her strong embrace—like mother like daughter, Maura supposed, “I’m watching  _Glee_.”

 

“You mean that singin' show? Again? I thought you were done?” Jane teased, knowing full well that they were only on their second season. For some reason unknown to Maura, Jane greatly enjoyed winding up their daughter. It brought her a great deal of amusement, Maura could only guess.

 

Sofia rolled her eyes so far into her head, for a moment Maura feared they were never coming back—if that was possible, of course. “No, Ma, the second season,” she said, as if explaining it to an extremely dense child. “You know? The season that comes after the first? And then after the second will be the third, and then the fourth, and then th—”

 

“Yeah, yeah I got it, thanks Sof,” Jane drawled.

 

Maura laughed a hearty laugh, “Your daughter seems to have defeated you at your own game.”

 

“Beaten, Maura.” Jane quipped, a fond grin lacing her tone.

 

“Well, they have the same definition, so the phrase maintains the same meaning.” Maura quipped back with a smile just as fond. 

 

“‘Sides," Jane continued, "I’m teachin' her my practice, so that one day the student shall become the master." 

 

Sofia started giggle uncontrollably, sounding so much like Maura that Jane had no trouble saying that the kid was Nurture vs. Nature at it's finest. Not that she minded. Hell, if she raised the kid, Sofia would be climbin' trees and drivin' cars without a license, not doing cancer-awareness runs and riding horses with perfect posture, charming anyone she met.

 

It took a grand total of two seconds for her to win over Korsak and Frost, which was a feat, even with Korsak's cute old man rep (Frost would disagree). "I'm sorry, Ma, it's just—that is the _worst_  English accent I have ever heard in my life, and I had to spend a whole dinner with Grand-Mère's fake-English fake-friends."

 

Maura started laughing too, and Jane's first thought was that two people laughing at her shouldn't bring her this much joy, but it did. "Oh, goodness, Sofia that is an accurate comparison!"

 

She walked towards Jane, having put down the coffee as she checked on Jane's grocery-buying, buried her face into the side of her shoulder to muffle her giggles. _Then_  Jane's first though was how warm the blonde was, and how good she smelled—like a mix of ground-coffee and that all-natural shampoo she loved so much, and also kind of like latex gloves but in a good way and  _god_ was Jane getting weird.  

 

And then Maura looked up at her, looking even smaller without her heels on yet, and Jane swore she could feel her pulse jump a hundred beats in less than a minute. Okay, well, not a _hundred_ beats, but the point was that her heart sped up real fast. "What are you thinking?" 

 

Jane chuckled, and was secretly horrified to find that her voice had betrayed her and became deeper than it usually was. "What makes you think I'm thinking? Maybe I just blanked out. Sofia does that a lot." And, goddamnit Maura's hand was still on her waist—she was biting her lip too.

 

Jane was in way too deep.

 

Thankfully, their ten-year-old ball-of-energy chose that moment to noisily fly down the stairs, breaking the both of them apart. Slightly red faced, Jane turned towards Daniel and said, "Mornin' kiddo!"

 

"Jane!" Daniel shouted before launching himself into her arms.

 

Jane groaned in surprise, just barely catching him. "You're gettin' heavy, little man. How old are you again? Five?" She grinned as he shook his head vehemently, blonde fringe shaking side to side. "No? Six then."

 

"No, Jane," Daniel sighed, crossing his arms with the most adorable frown on his face. Both women had to suppress the urge to coo at him—it would only irritate him more. He covered Jane's mouth with his hand, trying to prevent her from saying anything else, and continued. "I'm ten and a half!"

 

"What?" She muffled in faux shock. Looking towards Maura over the small boy's head, she asked with no little sentiment, "When did that happen?"

 

Seeing him grow up was kind of unbelievable, and Jane almost couldn't believe she had a hand in raising these amazing kids. Maura's eyes softened—Jane had no idea how she was able to communicate all of that in one look but it worked so she wasn't going to question it—and she stroked her son's hair before kissing his cheek, slowly making her way to the couch were Sofia sat.

 

"In September, Jane." Daniel said, pulling Jane's eyes away from where they had been glued onto Maura's intoxicatingly attractive smile—and intoxicatingly attractive... _other things_. 

 

"Oh yeah. I remember that now, thanks buddy."

 

Daniel nodded solemnly, and said, "You're welcome," so genuinely, as if Jane would have been completely lost without his help. "Oh, Olivia is still showering, by the way," he added as an afterthought. Silently, he asked to be let down, and joined both his sister and mother on the couch.

 

Jane joined them a moment later, seating herself in her usual spot between Maura and Sofia—who was still engrossed in watching _Glee_ —and wrapped an arm around them both.

 

"Ma, stop!" Sofia whined.

 

"Yeah, Ma, _stop_." Daniel mocked.

 

The glare Sofia sent his way was fiery enough to send him running into Maura's waist, making her laugh quietly—that glare was definitely special Rizzoli-brand, which made Jane glad there was at least one thing she passed on to her daughter. "Ma!"

 

"C'mon Sof, be the bigger person." Something her Ma always told her. She'd always hated when Angela said it to her—and she was being kind of hypocritical now. Ah well, parenthood did that to you, probably, or maybe she just grew as person. Who knew. "He didn't mean it, right Dani?"

 

"No, I didn't," Daniel said, putting on his best 'sorry' face. Pouted lips and all. That face was gonna get him places. "I'm sorry, Sofia, it was mean of me."

 

"It _was_ mean of you," Sofia said stubbornly. At a look from Jane, she added, "but I forgive you."

 

Her brother came slightly more out of hiding from where he was comfortably buried, clearly not sure if he was actually forgive or not. Jane couldn't blame him, that was the most godawful forgiveness ever given. And Jane was there when Frankie had to forgive Tommy for almost getting him arrested for car theft.

 

It was silent for a while, all of then preoccupied with watching the TV—or in Jane's case, with her own thoughts—but then they all heard the soft padding of damp feet on the wooden floor. "Good-morning, everyone."

 

"Good-morning, chérie," Maura replied.

 

"Morning Olivia," Sofia called, eyes glued to Brittany Pierce's rendition of Toxic.

 

"Maman, Sofia, Jane, Daniel." Olivia said, nodding her head to each of them in that grown-up way of hers. From all the stories Jane has heard—mostly from Olivia and Daniel's retellings of their gramma's stories, so not their own stories, but still, stories—Olivia was a lot like Maura at that age, only with way more attitude.

 

Physically, they were pretty similar too—from the pictures at least. Sure, Daniel had her hair and eyes, but his twin had her nose and her smile and her voice and her speech-pattern and her interest in all things science-y—which, Maura could try telling her it wasn't a genetic trait all she wanted, but Jane would never be convinced. No normal person could love science that much.

 

"Are you all watching _Glee_ again?" She asked, eyebrow raised judgingly. For a ten year old, she had way too much sass. And judgy-ness. People liked to say—among loads of other things (seriously, when did Jane become center of all precinct gossip)—that Olivia had the perfect combination of Jane's sarcasm and Maura's smarts, which made her a mouthy kid-genius. Not that they didn't love her for it.

 

Just as she was about to answer, the phone in her back pocket vibrated, and she hurriedly answered it. "Rizzoli."

 

(Jane could vaguely hear Maura say "Isles" into her own phone.)

 

" _Hey Jane_ ," Frost said from the other end, " _'Fraid we got a body_."

 

"And to think, I thought you were calling to chit-chat about our weekends."

 

Frost chuckled a little. " _Nope, not this time_." Like there'd ever been a time Frost called for casual conversation. " _We're on 4829 Cedar Lane, might wanna watch out for traffic downtown. Oh, and Jane_ ," he said before she could hang up, _"take your time droppin' off your kids. The body ain't goin' anywhere._ "

 

"Right. Thanks, Frost, I'm on my way." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are much appreciated, but never necessary.


	2. Start of Some[case] New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dynamics are defined, and dialogue is exchanged. 
> 
> (Sorry, but I love the thought of Frost and Jane's relationship to be more sibling-like in nature.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot less exposition, so I hope it's more enjoyable, but I also think this is one of the last filler chapters, so you have that to look forward to :) Also, since in my mind a Teen rating equals like PG-13, I'm technically allowed one F-bomb, and I used it in this chapter. Fair warning, I have no idea how the justice system works, so bear with me. It's pretty short too, sorry.

 

> “Life is short, and if we enjoy every moment of every day, then we will be happy no matter what happens or what changes along the way.”
> 
>  
> 
> — Gretchen Bleiler

 

* * *

 

“You know what?” Jane said as Angela opened her arms towards her ‘grandchildren,’ screaming so loudly Jane thought it was a miracle no-one called the cops on them yet, “I think Ma might seriously be thinking about adopting Dani and Liv as her kids.” She was only half-joking.

 

“As much as I adore Angela—” Maura shot a look towards Jane, who scoffed not-so subtly into the apartment’s wooden floor, “—as much as I _adore_ Angela, I don’t believe that is possible. It would be extremely awkward for Sofia, also.”

 

Jane hummed in acknowledgment before turning to face her mother, who already had her arms full of three energetic and excitable children. “Jesus, Ma, it’s not like you’re never gonna see 'em again!”

 

“Who knows, Janie?” She said, momentarily letting go of her captives with a kiss on each forehead. Jane swatted her hands away when they came to give _her_ a hug, too. Maura accepted her hug happily. “I live every moment like it’s my last.” 

 

Jane scoffed again, ignoring the disapproving look from her mother. She knew she could be rude, her ma didn't have to act like it was new information. “Cool it there, _Dr. Phil_. Too early for your philosophical bullsh…” she trailed off, looking towards the three children, “…schmuck.” Maura gave an approving nod.

 

Olivia nodded at her as well. “You should watch your language, Jane.” To anyone else, she would have sounded serious, but Jane knew from the teasing smirk in her eyes it was not. She really had too much influence on the kid. This time, both Maura _and_ Angela gave an approving nod, while Jane tried and failed at not grinning.

 

“Haha, Olivia.” Jane drawled sarcastically. “So, Ma," she said, about to give her mother a quick run-through of the day, something she did every time Angela babysat. Maura always said she was paranoid, but hey, that's what you got when you were a cop  _and_ a parent. "You gonna be okay? We should be back to pick them up before dinner, probably. But if we don’t, they have all their overnight things in their bags, so should be good.”

 

“Relax Janie, you’re forgetting I’ve raised three kids already." Her mother said, ushering the kids to sit on her couch, "I’m a seasoned mother.”

 

Jane rolled her eyes in response. “Whatever you say, Ma.”

 

“Jane." Maura chastised. “Be polite. Your mother most likely misses having children around. Isn’t that correct, Angela?”

 

The woman chuckled, her raspy laugh so much like her daughters. Jane and Angela were—sadly, in Jane's opinion—extraordinarily similar in that sense. “It is, Doctor Isles,” she said with fondness, so that Maura instantly knew that she wasn’t using the title as mockery or such.

 

The detective looked between the both of them several times, and said, “Okay, we need to go before my mother decides to keep you.”

 

“Well _someone_ has to, Janie.”

 

“ _Ma_!” Jane shot, her cheeks pinking slightly.

 

“ _Jane!_ ” Angela shot back, grinning much too knowingly for either Maura  _or_ Jane's comfort.

 

“ _Nonna_!” Sofia cheekily added, ever the smart mouth.

 

“Donkey!” Daniel giggled. Both parents looked at him and instantly decided he was watching too much television.

 

Jane rolled her eyes again as everyone laughed. With her mother around, it was almost a constant state—the rolling of eyes, not the laughing. “But no kidding, we gotta go.”

 

“Oh, okay then,” Angela said reluctantly, “but I'm just putting it out there, I'm sure your bosses wouldn't mind if you were just a little late." She cut off any and all protests Jane was about to give with a wave. "Say your bye-byes,” she said to her grandchildren. Or "grandchildren"—technically only Sofia was her grandkid, but semantics. Didn't seem to stop her mom.

 

“Bye Maman! Bye Ma. Have fun catching the bad guys.” Daniel said. Maura laughed.

 

“We will, _chérie_ , don’t worry about us. And listen to Nonna, alright?” She carefully placed a soft kiss on each of her children’s cheeks, and Jane was pretty sure she got heart-eyes before shaking herself and pulling on Maura’s elbow. Her mother gave her yet another knowing look, there was really no end to them—to which she also studiously ignored.

 

“Let’s go before the guy gets any more dead.”

 

“That’s not possible, Jane.” Maura and Sofia echoed. 

 

She grinned. “Come on, come on!” Hoping to finally getting Maura out of the doorway, she gave a slight push to her lower back. Once the door was shut and they had made their way to the carpark, Jane announced. “I’m driving.”

 

The doctor giggled. Jane shot her an incredulous look, double checking to see if it was actually Maura who had giggled. Out of all the reactions Jane could have predicted, Maura giggling was not one of them. “I have the keys.” She said, which—well that explained the giggles.

 

“Give.” Jane said, her arm outstretched and smirk unsuccessfully hidden.

 

“No.” Maura smiled with false innocence and unlocked the car.

* * *

Maura ended up driving. As much as Jane liked to pretend, she knew she couldn't refuse Maura, so there was really no questions about it—Maura was driving. Which also meant that they got to the scene slower than they usually would, to Jane's endless complaints ("being safe is not  _lame,_ Jane"), but now as she watched Maura bend down to examine the body, Jane thought that she could maybe get over it. With persuasion.

 

"Hey," Frost said, dragging Jane's eyes away from Maura's delectable backside, "stop droolin' over your girlfriend and get to work."

 

Apparently, Frost had showed up a while ago and had nothing better to do than to bother his partner. "Shut up, Frost," she answered childishly, "she's not my girlfriend. Stop bossing me around."

 

The man laughed, evoking another glare from Jane, which only amused him further. "I'll shut up if  _you_ admit it."

 

Jane decided to play dumb. That wasn't going to work "I don't know what you're talking about." Yeah Rizzoli, way to absolutely not sound like you're lying.

 

Frost rolled his eyes, still grinning. "Like you weren't ogling her ass a few minutes ago."

 

She opened and closed her mouth, not able to think of a retaliation. In the end, she just went with, "Well it is a very nice ass."

 

Frost snorted and shook his head. These two would never get a clue. Maura then turned around from where she was examining the body, shocking both detectives into momentary silence. Both Jane and Frost had kinda forgotten she was there.  _Shit._  "You both  _do_ realise that I can very clearly hear you discussing "my ass," yes?" Frost hung his head, his cheeks heating slightly. It would've been kinda funny, if Jane didn't know she was in trouble too.

 

"Ahem. Sorry, Doc. Won't happen again." Maura nodded, smiling at his embarrassment. She then looked towards Jane, an eyebrow raised in expectation.

 

"Oh, yeah, we're sorry Maur." Jane's hands went into the pockets of her blazer, a tell she had when she was anxious or self-conscious. "I'll try not to let it happen again." Internally, she face-palmed. God, she sounded like a man.

 

Maura smiled, though Jane noticed more coy than the smile she had given Frost—which kind of worried her—and said, "It's alright." Then added, "Though I have to agree, I  _do_ have a very nice ass," and she walked past them, leaving Jane blushing and Frost clutching his stomach as he guffawed. Jane elbowed him hard in the ribs once she recovered, and he started clutching his side instead.

 

"You dick," she said once Maura was hopefully out of earshot.

 

"Me? You started it—"

 

"Careful, Frost, there's a dead body right there. I'm sure his arms would be very useful to wave in your face." She said, pointing to said dead body that they hadn't even started looking at yet.

 

"Shut the hell up." He said, a little paler than he usually would be. "We already checked the body, anyways."

 

Jane turned towards him, and served him a healthy dose of the signature Rizzoli-glare. "What?" She shot. Never mind the not-looked-at body then. "Then what'd you call me for?"

 

"I guess I just assumed you'd get here within half an hour!" He replied, his volume increasing with each word he said to her. "But obviously not. And 'sides, we needed the Doc, so I just called you too. Might as well, right?" Jane groaned, head falling forward. Seriously, how did she get here? Frost was as nosy as her brother—or mother even, _Jesus Christ._ "We should get to the precinct now anyways," he rushed.

 

"Yeah, I'll meet you there." She said, heading towards where Maura had parked the car. Frost made a sound of protest. " _What_ , what is it, Frost?"

 

"It's just, uh, how you gonna get there, Rizzoli?"

 

"In my car you dumb fuck."

 

He put his hands up in surrender. "Ooh, ouch." He said, clutching the area his heart would be if he, y'know, actually had one. "Okay then, fine. Maybe I won't tell you that the Doc took your car and should be at the precinct right about," he pretended to check his watch, "now."

 

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

 

Frost glared, "Says you. And to think, I was actually gonna offer to drive you." 

 

"You still have to. Who's gonna solve the case then?"

 

"Screw you."

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are much appreciated, but never mandatory.


End file.
